Beating Michael Jordan on the golf course was enjoyable, but Terrell Buckley found it wasnt fulfilling.

They played every day, or at least every one the former NBA great spent in South Florida in 2006. They were joined by the likes of Lawrence Taylor, Cris Carter or Nat Moore, friends Buckley, a former Florida State All-America, made during his 14 years in the NFL before he retired after the 2005 season.

Im pretty good; I was close to being a scratch, Buckley said of his prowess on the links. Jordan had his days, though.

Inevitably, their conversations turned to the latest professional player to run afoul of the law. Buckley had the same talks with another friend, Troy Vincent, a former NFL Players Association president who now serves as the leagues vice president of player engagement.

It hit me that Im doing what probably 95 percent of the people do, you see stuff on ESPN and in the paper and you say, Man, what are they doing? All this money they make and all this and we didnt Buckley said earlier this month after a University of Akron football practice at InfoCision Stadium. I had to sit back and think when I was 17, 18 and 19, I was probably doing the same thing.

Buckley realized he had longed for a mentor while growing up in Pascagoula, Miss. In his mid-30s, he figured out what drove him, and it wasnt just testing his game on the championship course at Fort Lauderdales Grande Oaks Golf Club, where the movie Caddyshack was filmed.

The main thing Ive found out is that the Lord blessed me, I like to help. Im kind of a giver, Buckley said. My momma, my dad, everybody was giving and I want to be a part of that.

So in 2007 he went back to Florida State and finished his degree. He started working in football coach Bobby Bowdens weight room. He served as a graduate assistant, became coordinator of the life skills program for the Seminoles, then went back to the weight room. He stayed on after Bowden retired after the 2009 season. But coach Jimbo Fisher wasnt ready to fire a coach to hire Buckley.

On Dec. 29, Buckleys 17-year-old daughter Sherrell was driving the family home from the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., after a victory over Notre Dame. Buckley was napping until his cell phone rang at about 1 in the morning. It was Terry Bowden, Bobbys son, offering him a job coaching cornerbacks at the University of Akron.

Bowden wanted an answer quickly, so Buckley discussed the opportunity with his three daughters. Sherrell, Brianna (14) and Britney (11) convinced him of the communicative powers of Skype, Google Plus and instant messaging.

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UA’s Terrell Buckley drawn to coaching to mold men, not just cornerbacks